Edge-finishing machine



June 30, 1925.

H. E. ENSLIN I EDGE FINISHING MACHINE Filed Feb. 27, 1922 nfw@ 7 www# Patented .lune 30, i925.

UNITED sTATEs Ter-aise PATE'I' OFFICE..

HERBERT E. ENSLIN, OF BEVERLY, IVIASSACHUSETTS, ASSGNOR T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY.

EDGE-FINISHING MACHINE.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. ENsLIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex andState of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Edge-Finishing Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to machines for finishing the edges of pieces of sheet material such as leather' parts of uppers of boots and shoes and is illustrated as embodied in a machine in which a shrinking agent such as heat is employed, a machine of this general type being shown in the patent to Halsey t Perkins No. 1,195,674.

In such machines the stock, which, for brevity, will be referred'to as a piece of leather, is fed grain side downward over a table with the margin of the flesh side subjected progressively to the action of a hot searing or shrinking tool, the result accomplished being that the margin of the flesh side is shrunk and the margin of the grain side curled toward the flesh side so that in the finished piece the edge presents a grain surface instead of the flesh surface which resulted when the piece was originally cut out of the skin. 1

The purpose of treatingparts of uppers of shoes in this manner is to produce edges which will take the place of the usual folded edges. These edges are visible in the finished shoe, a familiar example being the edge of the tip which extends across the toe of a shoe. Referring, then, to the tip by way of example, it is customary to fasten the rear edge of the tip to the vamp by a row of stitches which is located as near as possible to the edge of the tip, these stitches serving to pull the tip down tightly upon the vamp. If the edge of the tip has not been sufficiently curled so as to present an edge which is all grain surface, of course a certain amount of flesh surface will still be visible after the stitching operation. And

even though the curl of the edge of the tip before it is attached is sufficient so that the edge presents a surface which is all grain, it sometimes happens that the pull of the stitches straightens the curl more or less and thereby exposes te view some of the flesh surface. In either case the result in the finished shoe is undesirable.

In order that the heated tool may operate satisfactorily upon the material, particularly when hard refractory material is being operated upon, it is desirable that the marginor edge of the material be held with considerable pressure against the tool. Ac-

cording to one feature of the invention a movable member is provided for accomplishing this result. In the illustrative ma- 'chine in which the material is fed over a 'tablel and beneath a hot tool, this member takes the form of a plate having a tapered end, the plate being reciprocated in such manner as to cause its tapered end to be thrust beneath the margin of the material and thereby lift and press the margin up against the tool. The effect of treating the `material in the manner described above is to shrink the margin of the material on one side and to cause the unshrunken side to curl toward the shrunken side and particularly to accomplish this result more thoroughly than has been possible with the type of machine hitherto employed in which a stationary plow-like member was relied upon to crowd the margin or edge of the material up against the tool.

. According to another feature of the invention a hammer' is provided and caused to more in a path the plane of which is substantially the same as that of the material. In the illustrative machine the operative Vface of this hammer is concave to correspond to the convexity which is desired to be imparted to the edge of the material and acts upon the edge while said edge is still more or less plastic from the effect of the heat.

These and other features of the invention, including certain details of construction and combinations of parts, will be described as embodied in an illustrative machine and pointed out inthe'appended claims.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Y Y

Fig. 1 is a front view, partly in section and partly in elevation, of the operative parts of a machine in which the present 1nvention is embodied; i

Fig. 2 is a perspective of the same parts, except that the table' or work. support has been omitted;

Fig. 3 is a perspective of the combined lifter and hammer;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of a piece of leather Vbefore it has been operated upon;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section on an enlarged scale of the same piece showing approximately the effect of the heated tool, and

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectionalso on an en larged scale of the same piece after it has passedY entirely through the machine.

The work 100, herein shown as a piece of upper leather, is fed over a work support in the vform of a table 7 by means of a cylindrical lower feed wheel 9 which projects. up through a slot in the table, and a conical upper feed Wheel 11gof smaller diameter than that of the lower wheel. The shafts 13, 15, respectively, of the feed wheels are rotated continuously at such velocities that the peripheral velocities of the feed wheels are the same.V

Any suitable mechanism for rotating the feed wheels may be employed. For example, referring to Patent No. 1,203,993 issued on an application filed in my name, the upper feed wheel 11 may be rotated as is the upper feed wheel 57 of that machine; and the lower feed wheel 9 may be mounted upon Van extension of the counter-shaft 19 of the gether with its mounting and electrical con-- nections, is or may be substantially the same as in my prior patent. In the machine of my prior patent the extreme margin of the leather is pressed up against the under side of the heated tool by a stationary plow or similarly shaped member, and the hot, plastic edge of the leather is molded or formed by a wheel or disk which rotates about a vertical axis and has a groove in its periphery to receive the. edge of the leather. In the present machine the eXtreme margin of the leather is pressed up against the heated tool by a reciprocating member, and the hot, plastic edge of the leather is pounded to impart to it the desired shape.

Referring ynew Vto Figs. 4, 5 and, 6, which illustrate on [an enlarged scale and in a somewhat exaggerated manner the leather piece and the effects produced, Fig. 4 shows the leather piece with its raw edge 19 which was produced by cutting the piece out of a is burned from off the corner 25. Certainly the flesh side of the `leather is shrunlnand the grain side caused a curl toward the flesh side so that the edge 27 presents agrain surface. After the edge, substantially as it appears in Fig. 5, has been produced by liftingthe margin of the leather up against the hot tool and while the edge is still f more or less plastic, it is struck by a hammer which imparts to it substantially the shape shown in Fig. 6 wherein the curl of the edge has been increased so that the grain surface extends a short distance over the flesh side of the leather. c

Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the mechanism which producesY the .Y effects referred to above will be described. It is desirable that the extreme margin of the leather be pressed firmly against the under side of the heated tool and be slightly bent up around the tool. In order to accom plish this as well as to pound or hammer the edge after the shrinking operation, there is provided a combined edge lifter or presser and hammer shown best in Fig. 3. Although in the illustrative machine a combined member has been shown, it should bev understood that it represents two separate means which perform separate functions, and might have been so shown. The combined member comprises a plate 31 fastened by screws 33 to a base 35 of inverted T- shape in cross-section soas to form grooves 37 which fit slivdably over horizontal guides, one of which is indicated at 39 in Fig. 1, said guides being formed upon opposite sides of a rectangular opening in the worksupporting table 7. The combined member has formed, extending along a part of one end, a lifter or presser comprising a tapered portion 41 which is so located (see Fig. 1) that when the member is moved to the right, it will be thrust beneath the margin of the leather just below the heated tool 17 and will bend the margin and crowd it up against the under side of the tool. Along the rest of the same end of the member 31 is a hammer 43 having a groove in its op-` is so located, as best shown in Fig.' 2, that, when it is reciprocated, the lifter will cooperate with the margin of the leather which is being acted upon by the heated tool 17 while the hammer' will strike a blow upon that portion of the edge of the leather which has just previously been acted upon by the heated tool.

The combined member is reciprocated very rapidly by means of a barrel cam 47 fast to the end of a rapidly rotating shaft 49. Into the track of this cam extends a roll 5l the spindle ofV which is carried by a lever- 53 pivoted at one end at 55 to a bracket 57 which is fast to the frame of the machine. The lever at its end remote from the pivot 55 has a fork 58 which straddles a roll 59 rotatable upon a spindle which is carried by th-e slide 35. Consequently, during the operation of the machine, the combined member is reciprocated in a direction transverse to the line of feed of the work and in a path the plane of which is substantially the same as or parallel to that of the work itself. The reciprocations of the combined member are very rapid so that every portion of the edge of the leather is operated upon both by the lifter and the hammer.

In thc operation of the machine the leather is presented beneath the heated tool to the feed wheels, and fed through the machine, an edge gage (not shown) being provided if desired. During the passing of the work through the machine the lifter or presser, comprising the tapered portion 41 of the plate, is thrust beneath the eXtreme margin of the leather to bend it upwardly and to press it into firm contact with the under side of the heated tool, thereby imparting a high degree of heat to the leather on its upper side, which is ordinarily the flesh side, probably burning off a certain amount of leather and shrinking the flesh side so as to cause the grain side to curl toward the flesh side, the result being approximately what is shown in Fig. 5, the eXtreme margin of the leather being rendered plastic for a short interval. Almost instantly this partly finished edge is advanced into the path of the hammer portion of the combined member and is struck a blow or several blows by that hammer portion, the result being approximately what is shown in Fig. G. The blow of the hammer rounds the edge and crowds it somewhat over the flesh side, the leather being held against the force of the blows of the hammer by being gripped between the feed wheels 9 and 11.

"he illustrative piece of leather has the square edge which resulted from dieing the piece out of a skin; and in such case the lifter bends the margin upwardly and forces the corner 25 against the under side of the tool 17 somewhat as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 5 so as to burn off this cor- 'ary toskive oif this corner 25 so as to facilitate the curling of the edge. Tith the present machine it is believed that no such preliminary skiving will be required, although it should be understood that such skiving, if performed, will interfere in no way with the operation of the machine.

Although the invention has been set forth as embodied in a particular machine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited in the scope of its application to the particular machine which has been shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock, having in combination, means for shrinking the margin of the stock on one side to cause the edge of the stock to curl, a hammer having a concavity in its operative face, and means for causing the hammer to pound the edge of the stock.

2. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock, having in combination, means for shrinking the margin of the stock on one side to cause the edge of the stock to curl, a hammer for operating upon the edge, and means for causing the hammer to move in a path the plane of which is substantially the same as that of the stock.

3. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock, having in combination, means for shrinking the margin of the stock on one side to cause the edge of the stock to curl, a hammer for operating upon the edge having a concavity in its operative face, and means for reciprocating the hammer substantially in the plane of the stock.

Ll. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock1 having in combination, means for shrinking the margin of a piece of stock on one side to cause the edge of the stock to furl, a member the operative face 0f which is the concave counterpart of the convex edge desired to be formed on the stock, and means for moving the member into and out of Contact with the edge of the stock.

5. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock having, in combination, means for shrinking the margin of a piece of stock on one side, a hammer the operative face of which is the concave counterpart of the conveX edge desired to be formed on the work, and means for reciprocating the hammer in a path to pound the edge of the stock.

6. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock having, in combination, means for shrinking the margin of the stock on one side to cause the edge of the stock to curl, means for feeding the stock past the shrinking mea-ins, a member havingV an operative face adapted to, contactY with that side of the margin of the lstock opposite theV shrinkinfT means, and means for oper-V ating the member tov press thestoclr against the shrinking means.

7. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock having, in combination, means for shrinking the margin of the stock on one side to cause the edge' of the stock to curl, means for feeding the stock past the shrinking. means,j a lifting member havingY a tapered operative end, and means for vactuating the member to cause its operative end to be thrust'rbeneath the margin of the stock below the shrinking means.V

8. A machine of the class described having', in combination, a work support, a heated toolpast which the work is fed, means for feeding the Work, means forV pressing the margin o-f the worlrtoward.V the tool, a hammer for operating upon the edge of the work, and means for causing the hammer to travel in a path the plane of which is substantially parallel to the plane of the work. i Y Y 9. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a work support, a heated tool past which the work is fed, means for feeding the work, means for pressing the margin of the work toward the tool, a ham mer having in its operative face a groove shaped to round the edge of the work, and means for causing the hammer to travel in a path the plane of which is substantially that of the stock;

l0. A machine for finishing the edge ofa piece of material having, in combination, a work support, a heated tool, means for .feeding the work past the tool with one side of the margin of the work in contact with .the Atool whereby the edge of the work is curled, a movable presser for forcing the margin ofthe work against the tool, a hammer for increasingthe curl of the edge, and means for operating the presser and hammer.

il. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of material having, in combination, a worli support, a heated tool, means for feeding the v-forli past the tool Vwith one side of the margin oit the work in contact with the tool whereby the edge of the Work is curled, a presser for forcing the margin of the work against the tool, a rhammer vfor increasing the curl of the edge,and means for reciprocating the presser and hammer.

l2. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of material having, in combination, a work support, a heated tool, means for feeding the work past the tool with one side of the margin of the work in4 contact with the tool whereby the edge of the work is curled, a presser for forcing the margin of the work against the tool, a hammer for increasing the curl of the edge, and ,means for reciproeating the presser and hammer in a path the plane of which is substantially parallel to that of the Work support. y l

13. 4A machine for finishing the edge of a Y piece of stock having, in` combination, a` support for the stock, means for feeding the stock, a heated tool for curling the margin of the stock,'a combined member for crowd ing the margin of the stock against the tool and for operating upon the edge of the stock to increase the curl thereof, and means for operating the combined member.

14:'. A machine for finishing the edge of a 'piece of stock having, in combination, a support for thelstoek, means for feeding the stock, a heated shrinking tool for operating upon the margin of the stock, a combined member for crowding the margin ofthe stock against the tool and for .operating upon the edge ofthe stock, and means for reciprocating the combined member..

l5. A' machine for finishing the edge of a Y i .piece of stock having, in combination, a support for thestock, means for feeding the stock along the support, a `heated shrinking tool for operating upon the margin of the stock, a combined member having a'tapered portion adapted to be thrust beneath the stock to lift a margin thereof into firm contact with the. tool to cause the edge to curl and a portion shaped to impart to the curled edge the desired outline, and means for operating the combinedmember. i

16. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of stock having, in combination, a support for the stock, means for feeding the stock along the support, a heated shrinking tool for operating upon the margin of the stock, a combined member having a tapered portion adapted to be thrust beneath the stock to lift a marginthereof into iirm con-A tact with the tool to cause the edge to curl and a portion shaped to impart to the curled edge the desired outline, and means for reciprocating the combined member.

v17. A machine for finishing the edge of a piece of upper leather having, in combination, a support kfor the leather, means for feeding the leather, a hammer, and means for reciprocating the hammer in a path which is substantially transverse to the diwhichis substantially transverse to the direetion of feed and is located substantially in the Vplane ofthe leather,

19. A machine vfor finishing the edge of a piece of upper leather', having, in combination, a support for the leather, means for feeding the leather, a hammer the operative 5 face of which is the concave counterpart of the convex edge desired to be formed on the leather, and means for reciprocating the hammer in a 'path which is suhstantially transverse to the direction of feed and is located substantially in the plane of the 10 leather.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

HERBERT E. ENSLIN. 

